As a small followup to today's Japan Times article on Kyoto Hannaryz guard/forward Edwin Ubiles, the team's latest signing, I received the perspective featured below from Casey Hill, the Santa Cruz Warriors' new head coach.

Hill, a former Tokyo Apache assistant coach, was an assistant coach for the Dakota Wizards in 2011-12 and Santa Cruz Warriors in 2012-13, giving him a first-hand look at Ubiles, who played for both NBA Development League teams, as well as received a 10-day contract from the Washington Wizards in March 2012.

"I have always rooted for Edwin, even when he was no longer on our team," Hill wrote in an email. "I think that he'll be good in the bj-league if he can get himself back into the shape he was in when he came out of college (Siena, in 2010).

"He is a tremendous kid, smooth and quiet player with skill oozing from his ears. I thoroughly enjoyed coaching him in Dakota. His (foot) injury in France (in the fall of 2012) put him in a boot for long enough to make conditioning an issue for him last year. I think you'll see big things from him over there."